Officer resigns:

Austin Shipley, the Winslow police officer who fatally shot Loreal Tsingine in March has officially resigned after being confronted with the results of an internal-affairs investigation concluded last week by the Mesa Police Department.

The Winslow police officer who fatally shot Loreal Tsingine in March has officially resigned from the Police Department, city officials said Monday.

Officer Austin Shipley resigned following a meeting in which he was confronted with the results of an internal-affairs investigation into the March 27 shooting that was concluded last week by the Mesa Police Department, according to the City Manager’s Office. The resignation was effective immediately.

“The results of this investigation were reviewed by Christopher Vasquez, the interim director of the Winslow Police Department,” said a statement released by City Manager Stephen Pauken’s office. “After meeting with Officer Shipley today, he made the decision to resign.”

Pauken told The Arizona Republic that Shipley met with his respective lieutenant and was provided the findings of the investigation, along with a memo from Vasquez. After the meeting, Shipley returned with a letter of resignation.

“He had as much time as he needed,” Pauken said. “He wasn’t forced to resign.”

The documents pertaining to the internal-affairs Investigation have not been made publicly available, as the city attorney has not had a chance to review the documents, according to Pauken.

Shipley fired fives times and killed

Tsingine on Easter Sunday while responding to a report of a convenience-store theft. Tsingine brandished a pair of scissors after she was accused of shoplifting at a Circle K, Winslow police said.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced in July that his office had reviewed the case against Shipley and decided not to file criminal charges against the police officer.

“After a careful review of the facts surrounding the case, including available video evidence and witness statements from all involved, my office found no evidence of criminal conduct on the part of Officer Shipley,” Montgomery’s statement said.

Shipley’s personnel file, originally released to The Republic on April 6,did not contain many documents relating to disciplinary actions taken against Shipley in his three-year career at the Winslow Police Department, although letters of disposition referred to multiple investigative reports.

Additional public-records requests were filed, the results of which revealed that, during his time with Winslow, Shipley held a suspect at gunpoint five times, drew his Taser four times and used physical force in at least three situations.

Shipley deployed his Taser twice, once at a 15year-old girl who had her back toward him, and another time at a man restrained to a gurney, records showed.

In one case, Shipley was found to have used vulgar language with another 15-year-old girl.

Little is available in the way of biographical information on Shipley, who grew up in Winslow. He completed his law-enforcement training in May 2012 and joined the Winslow Police Department in 2013 after an unsuccessful attempt to join the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Scottsdale Police Department.